{"product_id":"robert-peel-gordon-j-mackenzie-9798186919308","title":"Robert Peel: Order, Reform and the Price of Principle","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Peel did not lose power through scandal, corruption or incompetence. He lost it because he chose what he believed Britain required over what his own party demanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn into industrial wealth and educated for public office, Peel rose to become one of the most consequential statesmen of nineteenth-century Britain. As Home Secretary, he helped reform the criminal law and created the Metropolitan Police, permanently attaching his name to the \"bobbies\" and \"peelers\" who patrolled London's streets.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a political leader, Peel attempted something even more difficult. He rebuilt Conservatism after the Great Reform Act, accepted constitutional changes he had once opposed, restored government finances, reintroduced income tax and moved Britain towards freer trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Peel's method of government carried a devastating political price.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe opposed Catholic emancipation before deciding that continued exclusion threatened public order. He resisted parliamentary reform before accepting that the political world had changed. Finally, amid the catastrophe unfolding in Ireland and growing pressure for cheaper food, he turned against the Corn Laws.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRepeal succeeded, but it shattered the Conservative Party and ended Peel's premiership.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Peel: Order, Reform and the Price of Principle\u003c\/b\u003e examines the industrial fortune that launched him, his experience governing Ireland, the creation of modern policing, Catholic emancipation, the Tamworth Manifesto, his relationship with Queen Victoria, the Irish famine and the final political battle that destroyed his leadership.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the story of a conservative who repeatedly changed Britain, not because he welcomed revolution, but because he believed institutions survived only when they adapted before crisis became collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gordon J. MacKenzie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798186919308\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/12\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 324\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.87lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.81d","brand":"Gordon J. MacKenzie","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49174362816767,"sku":"9798186919308","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/robert-peel-gordon-j-mackenzie-9798186919308","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}